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There is a large body of literature that examines the association between parental psychopathology and child ADHD. The strength of the relationship varies across studies due to differences between the sample characteristics and methodologies utilized. A meta-analysis was conducted to evaluate the strength of the association between parental psychopathology and ADHD to review the research findings and to establish the degree and size of the effect. The present study included published and unpublished research that considered a quantitative comparison between parental psychopathology status or symptomatology and child ADHD status or symptomatology. Parents of children with ADHD had higher rates of psychopathology symptoms than parents of children without ADHD (d = 0.39; 95% CI [0.31, 0.48], p < .001, k = 32). Approximately 16.96% of parents of children with ADHD had a mental disorder (95% CI [14.37, 19.91], p < .001, k = 49). Parents of children with ADHD had 2.85 times the odds of parents of children without ADHD of having a mental disorder (95% CI [1.77, 4.59], p < .001, k = 18). Type of publication was the only moderator analysis that was statistically significant (Q = 5.70, p = .017, k = 21). Unpublished reports were associated with larger effect sizes in comparison to published journal articles; however, two of the unpublished reports were identified as outliers. Clinicians and researchers will benefit from the results of this research by developing a better understanding of impact parental psychopathology may have on treatment outcomes. / October 2015

Theoretical assumptions and emerging research point to possible mechanisms of change in acceptance and commitment therapy (ACT) for psychosis. However, the specific processes by which change occurs remain unclear and under-researched. No current research has explored processes facilitating change in the group format of an ACT intervention for psychosis. Participant perspectives were sought to help elucidate potential mechanisms of change. Nine participants of ACT groups for people with psychosis were interviewed about their experiences of the intervention. Interviews were analysed using methods and techniques informed by grounded theory. A proposed model outlined key mechanisms of awareness, relating differently and reconnecting with life, which led to reductions in distress and behavioural change. Leaning on others highlighted the importance of the group context in supporting change processes. The processes identified, and the mechanisms through which these were achieved, as articulated by participants, were consistent with proposed change processes. Participants also offered additional insights based on experiential accounts. Contributions to theoretical understandings and clinical practice are discussed.

No current laboratory test can reliably identify patients with schizophrenia. Instead, key symptoms are observed via language, including derailment, where patients cannot follow a coherent storyline, and delusions, where false beliefs are repeated as fact. Brain processes underlying these and other symptoms remain unclear, and characterizing them would greatly enhance our understanding of schizophrenia. In this situation, computational models can be valuable tools to formulate testable hypotheses and to complement clinical research. This dissertation aims to capture the link between biology and schizophrenic symptoms using DISCERN, a connectionist model of human story processing. Competing illness mechanisms proposed to underlie schizophrenia are simulated in DISCERN, and are evaluated at the level of narrative language, the same level used to diagnose patients. The result is the first simulation of a speaker with schizophrenia. Of all illness models, hyperlearning, a model of overly intense memory consolidation, produced the best fit to patient data, as well as compelling models of delusions and derailments. If validated experimentally, the hyperlearning hypothesis could advance the current understanding of schizophrenia, and provide a platform for simulating the effects of future treatments. / text

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Several studies have shown that children who grow up under adverse care giving conditions are prone to develop a broad spectrum of different problems, ranging from mild depression to severe psychosomatic pathology later in life. A carefully treated child develops a different attachment strategy and biochemical response than a maltreated child. Early adverse events seem to program the stress response to become either over or under reactive which in turn have the potential to alter brain development. Major consequences include reduced plasticity and abnormal frontal lobe activity. This review further investigates the emotional and cognitive development in children exposed to early life abuse or neglect, trying to get a comprehensive picture of different symptoms that might contribute to later psychopathology.

The gender normative hypothesis of relational aggression and psychopathology states that relational aggression is more detrimental to boys than it is to girls because relational aggression is more normative in girls. In the present study, this hypothesis was tested in a large sample of 6-to-18-year-old children and this hypothesis was also extended to the domain of age norms. Specifically, it was tested whether relational aggression would also be most detrimental outside of the age in which it is most normative. The results showed some evidence supporting the gender normative hypothesis. Specifically, it was found that relationally aggressive boys suffered more internalizing and externalizing problems than non-relationally aggressive boys did. Relationally aggressive girls, however, suffered only more externalizing problems than non-relationally aggressive girls did. Results did not support the age normative hypothesis. Implications of these findings and future directions are discussed.

The gender normative hypothesis of relational aggression and psychopathology states that relational aggression is more detrimental to boys than it is to girls because relational aggression is more normative in girls. In the present study, this hypothesis was tested in a large sample of 6-to-18-year-old children and this hypothesis was also extended to the domain of age norms. Specifically, it was tested whether relational aggression would also be most detrimental outside of the age in which it is most normative. The results showed some evidence supporting the gender normative hypothesis. Specifically, it was found that relationally aggressive boys suffered more internalizing and externalizing problems than non-relationally aggressive boys did. Relationally aggressive girls, however, suffered only more externalizing problems than non-relationally aggressive girls did. Results did not support the age normative hypothesis. Implications of these findings and future directions are discussed.

The Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory-Adolescent (MMPI-A) Structural Summary was developed to aid in parsimonious interpretation of the instrument s 69 scales and subscales. The current study of 130 male and female young offenders had two goals: (1) evaluate the criterion validity of the Structural Summary as a function of ethnicity (First Nation versus Caucasian), gender, and age (16 years and under versus 17 years and older); (2) examine ethnic, gender, and age differences in the elevation of Structural Summary scores. The MMPI-A Structural Summary showed strong evidence of criterion validity and few ethnic, gender, or age differences were noted. However, compared to Caucasian youth, statistically significant and clinically meaningful elevations were found for First Nations youth on four of eight Structural Summary dimensions. As well, older adolescents were more elevated than younger adolescents on a dimension measuring general maladjustment. Results reflect substantive differences in psychopathology rather than an artefact of test bias.

Prevailing theories of emotion regulation (ER) focus on the role of various aspects of cognition for successful regulation of one’s emotions. In particular, research suggests that executive functions (EF) may play an important role in contributing to successful ER. Emerging adulthood can be a time of high levels of perceived stress associated with changing developmental roles, which can be a risk factor for psychopathology (e.g., depression, anxiety). Emerging adulthood is also a time during which EF comes to maturation both behaviorally and biologically. This prolonged period of development associated with EF and ER maturity may represent an increased period of vulnerability in young adults, and deficits in EF may pose a significant risk for emotion dysregulation and future psychopathology. This study aimed to investigate whether EFs played a role in ER for emerging adults. More specifically, this study examined whether EFs (including, working memory, attentional control, and inhibitory control) moderated the indirect effect of ER in the relationship between stress and psychopathology in the context of emerging adulthood. A sample of 75 undergraduate students at the University of Victoria was recruited. Participants self reported perceived levels of stress and psychopathology symptoms. Participants also completed a computerized ER task where they viewed aversive pictures and sentences on a computer screen and explicitly applied an ER strategy to reduce their negative emotions when viewing the stimuli. Tests of EF including the Go/No-Go, Number-Letter and N-Back task were also completed. Results revealed that moderated mediation did not hold for this sample. However, working memory, attentional control, and inhibitory control moderated the relationship between ER and psychopathology. Specifically, low working memory and attentional control, and high inhibitory control moderated the relationship between cognitive reappraisal and psychopathology. For this same relationship of cognitive reappraisal to psychopathology, faster engagement in response inhibition (i.e., faster reaction times) was trending toward significant levels of psychopathology symptoms. For expressive suppression, the relationship to psychopathology was moderated by inhibitory control. ER did not mediate the relationship between stress and psychopathology symptoms across the entire sample. The results illuminate the ways in which EFs contribute to ER in the context of emerging adulthood. Implications for promoting successful ER and informing therapeutic techniques used with this critical population are discussed. / Graduate / 0622 / 0347 / 0317 / mcochran@uvic.ca